A tip from Mr Scagell is not to look towards the radiant, but to direct your gaze in the opposite direction.

Not only will a waning gibbous moon be rising in the region of the Perseid radiant, but the meteors will visible for longer when viewed streaking away from their point of origin.

Because the density of the dust cloud varies, the meteors will not be evenly spaced out. At certain times they could be close together and at others seem to disappear.

The Perseids were the first meteor shower to be linked to a comet when astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli spotted their association with Swift-Tuttle in 1862.

The comet orbits the sun every 135 years. As the Earth crosses its orbit, it ploughs through some of the debris left by the icy object on previous visits. None of the particles are big enough to avoid destruction and reach the ground.